College Athletics

News about College Athletics, including commentary and archival articles published in The New York Times.

Chronology of Coverage

Jul. 30, 2015

Universities can begin to share revenue with athletes through trust funds due to lawsuit against NCAA commonly known as O'Bannon ruling. MORE

Jul. 10, 2015

NCAA announces that colleges in South Carolina can once again bid to host NCAA championships after Gov Nikki R Haley signs law removing Confederate flag from grounds of the State House. MORE

Jun. 9, 2015

Joe Nocera Op-Ed column chronicles actions of University of Alabama at Birmingham president Dr Ray Watts as he announced that school would stop fielding football team, only to retract proposal after uproar in Birmingham; notes that decision to end program was the right one, given high costs of fielding competitive team; questions validity of idea that university must have football team to be considered top-notch. MORE

Jun. 5, 2015

National Collegiate Athletic Assn charges North Carolina with five violations, including lack of institutional control for poor oversight of department popular with student-athletes; charges are broad-based, and do not focus on individual sports. MORE

May. 31, 2015

William C Rhoden Sports of The Times column recalls life and legacy of Walter Byers, first executive director of the NCAA; notes Byers served as director for three decades, helping to create modern world of intercollegiate athletics. MORE

May. 30, 2015

Joe Nocera Op-Ed column holds that longtime NCAA executive director Walter Byers, while considered highly successful by many during his stewardship of organization, in fact failed to protect student athletes and preserve organizaton's amateur collegiate spirit; contends bureaucracy and commercialism flourished on Byers's watch; says Byers's criticism of NCAA's flaws came late and he failed to recognize his role in creating problems. MORE

May. 30, 2015

Mike Slive unexpectedly steps down as commissioner of Southeastern Conference, two months ahead of scheduled retirement; other college sports news noted. MORE

May. 28, 2015

Southeastern Conference plans to substantially increase fines for universities that violate its on-field policy; other college sports new noted. MORE

May. 12, 2015

Joe Nocera Op-Ed column comments on dispute between Rutgers University faculty and university's athletics department over finances; contends while Rutgers sports have consistently bled money, to tune of $26 million in 2014, fact that school is now a member of Big Ten conference means academics will be the loser. MORE

Apr. 19, 2015

Cornell's own dairy processing plant has produced 1 percent low-fat chocolate milk that its athletes use for recovery; is now working on a protein drink called Big Red Refuel. MORE

Apr. 16, 2015

NCAA proposes new settlement in concussion lawsuit, with terms that include $70 million monitoring fund for athletes, $5 million for research and stricter return-to-play guidelines for athletes who sustain head injuries; other college sports news noted. MORE

Mar. 27, 2015

William C Rhoden Sports of The Times column makes case for reinstating freshman ineligibility in college sports. MORE

Mar. 17, 2015

Marc Tracy On College Sports column examines Boston College's lone dissent in NCAA ballot to increase the allowed value of scholarship to cover federally determined cost of attendance; observes that college wanted to emphasize how shift would increase expenses, segregate athletes from other students and create dangerous wiggle room for recruiting advantage. MORE

Mar. 13, 2015

Greg Sankey will replace Mike Slive as commissioner of Southeastern Conference; other college sports news noted. MORE

Mar. 12, 2015

College curling teams are busy preparing for USA Curling College Championship, which will be held at Rochester Curling Club in New York. MORE

Mar. 10, 2015

Report released by NCAA finds community center Oneida Family YMCA aided in widespread cheating at Syracuse University; says center's chief executive officer Hank Leo and youth sports coordinator Jeff Cornish, both closely tied to college's men's athletics programs, helped players get credit for fake internships and other handouts, and also funded non-players; findings are from years of investigations into allegations of university's elaborate system for circumventing rules governing college athletics. MORE

Feb. 19, 2015

NCAA puts West Virginia University athletic department on probation for self-reported recruiting violations. MORE

Feb. 15, 2015

Profile of Houston Summers, 27-year-old junior at University of North Carolina who has already had short career as rookie pitcher for Arizona Diamondbacks; since his arrival at Chapel Hill in fall of 2013 as a 25-year-old freshman, Summers has his hopes set on becoming student body president while also aiming for medical school. MORE

Feb. 15, 2015

Increasing number of college-bound athletes are refusing to sign national letter of intent, document that makes decision binding according to NCAA rules; issue is part of national debate about recruiting that could give young athletes even more leverage; refusal to sign NLI is coming from experience of many young players who were personally recruited by college coaches who then took other jobs before school year even started. MORE

Feb. 14, 2015

College sports like swimming are threatened by NCAA reforms aimed at directing even more resources toward profit-generating programs like football and basketball. MORE

Feb. 10, 2015

Women’s Beanpot hockey tournament, started by Harvard coach Joe Bertagna in 1979, is not as well-known as men's tournament but is growing in stature; Boston College, Boston University, Harvard and Northeastern have Division I women's hockey teams that are starting to get more attention and equal treatment by athletic departments. MORE

Feb. 8, 2015

Some college officials have proposed college majors based around sports, since varsity athletes are often completely immersed in their sport and put little time into academics; educators David Pargman, William D Coplin and Josephine T Potuto debate advantages and drawbacks of idea. MORE

Feb. 4, 2015

Letter from Harris Pastides, president of University of South Carolina, comments on Jan 28 editorial suggesting that many student-athletes at universities are in fact unpaid professionals. MORE

Feb. 4, 2015

Columbia University hires marketing executive Peter Pilling as its next athletic director. MORE

Jan. 28, 2015

Editorial supports lawsuit filed by Rashanda McCants and Devon Ramsay against their alma mater University of North Carolina and the NCAA, alleging that they did not receive meaningful education due to their participation in athletic programs; maintains NCAA knows that some student athletes are in fact simply unpaid professionals, and unless organization recognizes this fact, universities will continue to exploit system. MORE

Jan. 23, 2015

Class-action lawsuit filed against University of North Carolina by former student athletes Rashanda McCants, who played women's basketball, and Devon Ramsay, who played football, accuses school of academic fraud and failing to educate athletes; filing comes shortly after release of Kenneth L Wainstein's report, which found that many North Carolina athletes took classes that appeared to be shams. MORE

Jan. 19, 2015

Marc Tracy On College Sports column; NCAA appears to be favoring most popular and lucrative sports especially at schools in Big 5 conferences. MORE

Jan. 18, 2015

Jan. 18, 2015

Evaluations and pay of University of California coaches and athletic directors are now tied to academic performance of its student-athletes. MORE

Jan. 13, 2015

Joe Nocera Op-Ed column asserts first College Football Playoff has been a financial bonanza for the college football industry, including ESPN, schools, conferences and coaches; holds event is the most nakedly profit-oriented in history of college sports, and that it has created crisis in debate over status of amateur college players who are not sharing in the riches. MORE

Dec. 29, 2014

Colleges will sometimes lure top prospect players by hiring their former high school coaches, as Seton Hall did with its men's basketball coach Dwayne Morton and guard Isaiah Whitehead; strategy is permitted under NCAA regulations. MORE

Dec. 24, 2014

Glen Grunwald, former general manager of New York Knicks, is now athletic director at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, but says he may be open to possibility of returning to NBA; Grunwald was unexpectedly pushed out of Knicks despite his two straight winning seasons in 2012-2013. MORE

Dec. 18, 2014

NCAA hires Virginia athletic director Oliver Luck to fill newly created position of executive vice president for regulatory affairs; Luck will oversee all regulation for the association, including academics, eligibility and enforcement. MORE

Dec. 18, 2014

Federal Judge John Z Lee rejects proposed settlement of $75 million in class-action lawsuit against NCAA over handling of head injuries; questions scope of agreement and urges both sides to continue negotiating. MORE

Dec. 16, 2014

Joe Nocera Op-Ed column examines fallout after the elimination of football program at the University of Alabama-Birmingham by president Dr Ray Watts; observes school could simply not afford the additional $49 million it would have cost over five years to field a competitive team in its conference; supports decision and expresses doubt about conventional wisdom that fielding a team is essential for a university's overall mission. MORE

Dec. 14, 2014

Group of legislators and proponents of reform call on Congress to consider a presidential commission for college sports as NCAA issues pile up. MORE

Dec. 13, 2014

Universities are marketing packages for sports fans allowing them to connect directly with players and teams; winning bidders of online auctions in 2014 have watched games from press box, sat behind team bench or stood just outside end zone for final minutes of football games. MORE

Nov. 29, 2014

National Labor Relations Board continues to consider whether scholarship football players at Northwestern University qualify as employees; even if union vote fails, precedent set by the board will remain and could make path to unionization at other universities easier. MORE

Nov. 8, 2014

Baylor University Pres Kenneth W Starr, famous for investigating former Pres Bill Clinton in 1994, has returned to public eye defending NCAA's college sports programs, which have become political issue; believes that student athletes should not be paid and has testified against player unionization at House hearing. MORE

Nov. 3, 2014

Editorial warns that some universities are still not doing enough to protect athletes from lasting effects of head injuries; cites study published in American Journal of Sports Medicine that found 24 percent of National Collegiate Athletic Assn institutions have no process for annual athlete concussion education. MORE

Oct. 29, 2014

Decision by the Big Ten athletic conference to guarantee its athletic scholarships for four years represents shift in power toward college athletes; change is also seen as a move toward the spirit of amateurism, given the similarity between one-year scholarships and employment contracts. MORE

Oct. 25, 2014

Federal Judge Michael Shipp grants request by major professional sports leagues and the NCAA to temporarily stop New Jersey from allowing legalized sports betting in effort to ensure that issue is argued in court. MORE

Oct. 23, 2014

University of North Carolina releases report revealing that, between 1993 and 2011, two employees in African studies department presided over a 'shadow curriculum' designed to help struggling Tar Heels athletes, stay afloat; classes required no attendance, little academic work, and most were created and graded solely by an administrative assistant; NCAA officials have reopened an investigation following release of report. MORE

Oct. 23, 2014

Study published in American Journal of Sports Medicine finds that many universities have still not implemented all aspects of an NCAA policy requiring concussion management plans, four years after it was introduced; study finds many universities have introduced a plan but have not done enough to educate coaches and athletes on the risks of concussions and says they must increase size of sports medicine staffs. MORE

Oct. 18, 2014

College fishing circuit, which is not under NCAA umbrella, gives anglers chance to compete alongside professionals and win prize money without any consequences; University of Minnesota was awarded $30,000 for winning the 2013 college fishing national championship; Bassmaster Classic, which typically airs on ESPN and has an overall purse worth about $1 million, is open to any participant, college or professional. MORE

Oct. 3, 2014

All 10 universities in Colonial Athletic Assn request override of NCAA vote granting substantial autonomy to so-called Big 5 conferences, but are among only school nationwide to do so; objections from 75 universities are required to set off a process that could send vote to Division 1's nearly 350 institutions. MORE

Sep. 21, 2014

Marc Tracy On College Football column notes that Florida State’s decision to lengthen the suspension of star quarterback Jameis Winston may have come about because of an uneasy coexistence between big business and amateurism in the top tier of college sports. MORE

Sep. 6, 2014

Joe Nocera Op-Ed column criticizes Prof Randal S Thomas and Prof R Lawrence Van Horn study concluding that college football coaches are not overpaid because their jobs are similar to those of chief executives; says coaches resemble CEOs only in that they are overpaid; says high coach salaries at time of elevated tuition and negative athletic program revenues point to skewed values. MORE

Sep. 5, 2014

William C Rhoden Sports of The Times column observes that United States Tennis Assn's four-day college tournament at US Open is a clear statement that it has begun to view intercollegiate tennis as viable training grounds for pro ranks. MORE